Landmark Education Forum

Starting in 2010, Arunaraje Patil has been announced by Landmark Education to be the newest Landmark Forum Leader. Her background with Landmark Education is a self expression and leadership programme leader and leader of the Introduction Leaders Program. She completed the Landmark Forum in 1997.

Arunaraje is also a mother and an acclaimed film producer who has made more than 25 documentary films and 9 feature films. She has also been an advocate for underprivileged women.

For her project in the selp programme, Anubha Phophaliya of Bangalore (of Vijaya enclave) started a ‘fun to read’ camp for kids which not only gave them an opportunity to discover books and reading, but to do so in a way that was exciting and enjoyable.

The Bangalore Mirror carried the story about Anubha’s landmark project, which created an empahsis in the camps on group sessions for added entertainment. The children, which usually range from 6-7 years old, are each asked to bring two books to the camp. The books are then read aloud for all to hear.

The reading sessions are participatory, however, as the facilitator will stop during the reading and ask questions of the children about what they think about the story, which has them thinking as they go along.

Anubha says that her own children, two and seven years of age, are avid readers, but that she noticed that many other children in her community were not as interested, with other options like television and the internet available to them. She held the first camp in October with 10 children, and since then has held camps every Wednesday evening.

She has also gotten the idea into the schools, having ran a programme in Presidency school for 120 children. Arubha went to the school with 25 colleagues and read books aloud and acted out the different characters.

Dheeraj Kumar celebrated independence day in India by helping to bring new growth to Bangalore – literally. The software engineer oversaw the planting of 1,000 saplings in the city to help restore some true green growth. Children and families of the apartment complex where the planting is taking place are contributing to the planting. The Bangalore Daily Mirror wrote a story about the planting of 300 of the saplings, which took place out of Kumar taking part in Landmark Education’s Self-Expression and Leadership Programme.

Planting the town green on I-day

by Gayatri Nair

Independence Day is not just another holiday for software engineer Dheeraj Kumar M. He wants to celebrate it by planting 300 saplings and restore some green cover in Bangalore. On Saturday, Kumar along with volunteers, will plant 100 saplings in Marathalli and another 200 in and around HMT Layout. Kumar said, “Trees are being felled to make roads and other infrastructure. The City has almost lost the Garden City tag. Hence, I want to compensate by planting more saplings.”

This is not the first time he’s planting saplings. On July 11, he planted about 500 saplings in the Vishwa Santhi Ashram in Nelamangala. Kumar added, “There are many benefits of planting saplings. It strengthens the soil and obviously reduces pollution. And what better way to celebrate Independence Day.”

Joining Forces

Saturday’s spot for planting saplings was recommended to Kumar by his colleague Apoorv Jain, who lives in the apartment complex SJR Spencer on Varthur Road, Marathalli.

The place chosen is a small plot of land behind the apartment complex. Planting is taking place from 8 am with the children of families living in the apartments taking part.

“Later when the children will play in the garden they will see the plants and remember to water them,” added Kumar. Residents of the apartments are extremely supportive of this initiative.

All the saplings for Saturday’s planting are provided for free by Isha Foundation, said M Rajesh Kumar, a software engineer who works with it.

Dheeraj has also started a blog www.grow-trees.blogspot.com to create more awareness about planting.

The Record newspaper of Troy New York in the United States wrote a story about Andrea Daley, and a city restoration project she undertook after becoming inspired during The Landmark Forum.

Five Questions: Andrea Daley

Andrea Daley, the owner and operator of Restoration Specialist located at 253 Fourth St. in Troy, is on a mission to have all of the historic doors in the city restored to their original glory.

Q: How would you describe this mission of yours?

A: My mission is to bring awareness and attention to all the magnificent entranceways that Troy has, and I need to do that in two ways: by teaching others and by just being out there fixing them. It doesn’t have to just be old doors. It can be any entranceway that needs attention. If people don’t do something with them then eventually they’re going to get to the point of no return and be replaced with metal and plastic doors — things that are just so out of character with these beautiful homes.

Q: How did you get into the restoration business?

A: I started by doing porcelain restoration, which my mom taught me, and object art restoration. For the most part, I’m self taught and took airbrush courses, as well as other little courses I found interesting, in addition to my background as an artist.

Q: Why did you choose to become so active with the Little Italy neighborhood?

A: One of the reasons was that I bought a home in that area and also have my showroom there as well as my studio for teaching. The people there are just so great that they are really starting to bring life back to this area.

Q: What made you start writing a book about your restoration of doors in the city?

A: The idea for that came from the education that I take called landmark education, which focuses on making you stretch and go beyond your comfort zone to help make a difference in the world. It puts you out there in your community and anyone who takes this type of education really ends up doing great things for their community.

Q: What do you do in your free time?

A: My free time is taken up with 21 grandchildren, 10 of which are under 10 years in age, and six children of my own, so every couple weeks there is a birthday or parties to go to.

In the winter of 2008-2009, Karthik participated in Landmark Education’s Self-Expression and Leadership Program in San Jose in the United States. Along with his wife, Ramya, he created a project under the banner of Jalamangala Bettadha Sri Lakshmi Narayana Swamy Family Charitable Trust (JBSLNSFCT) for ushering in a brand new future of activities in Karthik’s native Jalamangala Village near Bangalore, India. One of the activities that was taken on was causing the empowerment of women of the village. This project was kicked off on Monday, March 9th 2009.

JBSLNSFCT is a trust established by karthik’s parents, uncles, aunts and cousins to carry forward the charitable work of the family over the last 300 years into teh 21st century, under the blessings and guidance of Karthik’s great-grandmother Lakshmi Narasamma. The trust is actively involved in educational, spiritual and health related activities in Jalamangala village.

The leaders of the project were Geetha (Karthik’s mother), Indira (Karthik’s mother-in-law), Lalithamma (Karthik’s maternal grandmother), Anantha Lakshmi (Ramya’s grandmother) and 8 women from Ladies society. They were supported by Ramachandra (Karthik’s father), Nagaraj (Ramya’s father), Usha (Karthik’s aunt), Rashmi (Karthik’s sister) and Sowmya (Ramya’s sister).

Early, on the morning of the 9th of March, a team of 12 women from Bangalore, including the above leaders, visitied Jalamangala Village. As part of their visit, they started the day at the 300-year old home built by JBSLNSFCT’s ancestors. The event was organized at a local community center built by the JBSLNSFCT for use by the villagers. Following a prayer meeting at the local temple for Lord Ganesha, constructed by JBSLNSFCT, the meeting started.

About 120 women of the village participated in the event and were brought together by 9 different “Stree Shakti” (Women Empowerment) groups. The event focused on bringing together the team from Bangalore, including Lalithamma (Karthik’s grandmother), who spent her childhood years in the village, with the women of the village and provide an opportunity for both the groups to get related to each other.

The event proceeded to discuss the lifestyle of the women of the village, what’s important for them and their hardships and issues. While financial support was not found to be an important requirement, support with healthcare and small-scale industry product marketing was found to be in need.

Later that day, the women visited the village of Talawadi where the ancestors of JBSLNSFCT had built a temple.

The team from Bangalore has planned on taking on the following next steps in the coming months in Lalamangala village:

1. Organize a women’s health camp that includes guidance on Gynecological and Pediatric care.
2. Create an event with experts in small scale industry product marketing from Bangalore
3. Work with other local NGOs to support the critical causes in the village

Acknowledgements

• Lakshmi Narasamma and JBSLNSFCT for providing an opportunity to cause this event
• Indira Nagaraja and members of her Ladies Society for generously contributing their time and views
• Women of Jalamangala village for participating and being open to contribution at this event
• Katie Lynn and SELP Team at Landmark Education, San Jose for providing a platform for this project to start